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North Korea Nuclear Test


North Korea claims nuclear test
POSTED: 5:58 a.m. EDT, October 9, 2006

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea claimed it conducted a successful underground nuclear test Monday, according to the country's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

China, a close ally of North Korea, denounced the claimed test as "brazen" and South Korea said it would respond "sternly." The United States said a test would constitute a "provocative act."

South Korea's president said Pyongyang's claimed test "broke the trust of the international community."

President Roh Moo-hyun said it brought "a severe situation that threatens stability on the Korean Peninsula and in northeast Asia."

South Korea would "react sternly and calmly" with "appropriate measures" in close cooperation with the international community, he told journalists after a summit with new Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Abe told the same news conference his country would work "to make ways to implement action for a tough resolution."

CNN's Dan Rivers, speaking from the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, said the key question now was what China -- which effectively allowed North Korea to exist economically -- would do.

The apparent nuclear test was conducted at 10:36 a.m. (1:36 a.m. GMT) in Hwaderi near Kilju city, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing defense officials.

Reports of the claimed test triggered global condemnation (Full story).

Senior U.S. officials said the United States is consulting with allies around the world and would push for sanctions Monday at a 9:30 a.m. (1:30 p.m. GMT) meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York.

South Korea's Defense Ministry raised the military alert level.

"The field of scientific research in the DPRK (North Korea's official name) successfully conducted an underground nuclear test under secure conditions on October 9 ... at a stirring time when all the people of the country are making a great leap forward in the building of a great prosperous powerful socialist nation," KCNA reported.

CNN's Matthew Chance said that Moscow said Russian equipment in the area had confirmed an underground test.

Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said that the force of the blast was five to 15 kilotons.

In Washington, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow responded to the reports in a conference call with reporters.

"U.S. and South Korean intelligence detected a seismic event Sunday at a suspected nuclear test site. North Korea has claimed it conducted an underground nuclear test," Snow said.

"A North Korean nuclear test would constitute a provocative act in defiance of the will of the international community and of our call to refrain from actions that would aggravate tensions in northeast Asia," Snow added.

A senior U.S. official said China was given a 20-minute warning ahead of the test and in turn passed the information along to the United States, Japan and South Korea.

A U.S. military official told CNN that "something clearly has happened," but the Pentagon was working to fully confirm the report.

Other senior U.S. officials said they also believed the test took place, citing seismic data that appears to show one.

The U.S. Geological Survey Web site recorded a light 4.2-magnitude earthquake in North Korea at 10:35 a.m., about 385 kilometers (240 miles) northeast of the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

South Korean intelligence officials said a seismic wave of magnitude-3.58 had been detected in North Hamkyung province, according to Yonhap.

"The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and technology 100 percent. It marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the KPA (Korean People's Army) and people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defense capability," KCNA reported.

"It will contribute to defending the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the area around it."

'China's Reaction'

China on Monday demanded Pyongyang stop any action that would worsen the situation, Reuters news service reports.

"The DPRK has ignored the widespread opposition of the international community and conducted a nuclear test brazenly on October 9," China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its Web site.

"The Chinese government is firmly opposed to this," the statement said.

In Tokyo, the prime minister's office said Japan had established a task force to address the situation. Chief government spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki said if a nuclear test was confirmed, Japan would "strongly protest" it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the claimed North Korean nuclear weapons test, Russian news agencies reported, as Russia demanded North Korea rein in its nuclear program.

"Russia certainly condemns the test conducted by North Korea," the Interfax news agency quoted Putin as saying. "Enormous damage has been done to the process of nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the world."

High-level South Korean officials, meanwhile, were meeting Monday after intelligence of the suspected test was received.

"President Roh Moo-hyun called in an emergency meeting of related ministers on Monday to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue," said Yonhap, quoting Foreign Ministry spokesman Choo Kyu-ho.

"The meeting comes as there has been a grave change in the situation involving the North's nuclear activity."

According to KCNA, there was no radioactive leakage from the site.

On Friday, the Security Council warned North Korea against performing a nuclear test, citing unspecified action if it should do so.

It also called on North Korea to return immediately to the six-party talks with China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States.

'Serious Provocation'

The report of a North Korean nuclear test came as Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Seoul for meetings with President Roh Moo-hyun to address the nuclear issue as well as address strains in relations between the two countries over territorial and historical disputes.

Also Monday, North Korea accused South Korea of committing a serious provocation by firing warning shots during a weekend incident in which the South says soldiers from the communist North crossed over their border.

On Monday, members of the U.N. Security Council are expected to select South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon to succeed Kofi Annan as secretary-general of the world body.

In a straw poll last Monday, all but one of the 15 council members supported that choice, according to Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya.

John Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, refused to discuss the outcome of the vote, but said: "I think it was sufficiently clear that all members of the council agreed to move to a formal vote on Monday night," he said. The announcement would be made Tuesday, he said.
 
i think north korea should be removed from the map by friday. but, then again, we should have removed most of the middle east from the map years ago. all of that sand would help sure-up the barrier beaches on the east coast of the US.
 
NOT A THING WILL HAPPEN, WE CANNOT DO A THING TO THEM, NOTHING!

We can cry and whine but nothing will happen, look up Pakistan 1998 nuclear test.

It will just faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaade away.
 
China will take care of them. China really is the most bothered by it with them so close to being a part of the world now. They can hardly be arsed to have a tick feeding on them blowing that for them. They will put them in thier place.

And we will of course participate in buying they off again... and again... and again... because they only start making noise when they are broke and hungry. And we send them food and ask them to be nice. Then they act nice but spend what they get on arms to try and posture for more food. So that they never have to try and build an economy like South Korea has done.They keep proving over and over again that thier "Ideology" will not work. But its going to take China to cut them off and make them behave this time. And eventualy it will all come crashing down on them from within. Hopefully China is prepared to deal with it. Its mostly their mess now.
 
Just how Mighty are we ,The US of A ? Are "we" not busy enough as it is ? But then again ,your trying to tell me that some skinny little bearded cave dweller can kick our asses ? IM not buying it !! Never will !! I saw both "Loose Change" films and a few others and it changed my way of thinking forever. Doesn't change that this Korean dude is just another nut case amungst many. What's it going to take ? I hope your right Phil about the Chinese taking care of buisness , but at the same time ,there's another one !! World War 3 comes to mind ......seriously ? How hard would that be ? For the good of the people ? I don't doubt "we" do what we got to do to survive this life , even if it has to do with sacraficing our own (but that's the last thing we would ever care to look at) "we" like so many others would rather "blame" it on somebody else. (it's easier that way and easier on the ones that are left over to talk about it) It's kind of like sacraficing 3000 (the very unlucky) to save 300,000,000 ?? I truly ask myself this ........Am I proud to be an American ? ......Why in the hell would I have to ask myself that in the first place ? hmmmm ? Until I know more or get a better understanding ,I honestly can't answer that question ? IM glad IM "here" all the same and not somewhere else , Do I deserve to be else where because of the way I feel or lack of understanding at this time ? for me ,it is surely a sad misunderstood state of affairs. God Bless America ...........or should I say God bless the world. Reminds me of a few months back ,I have (or had) a friend for 30 years that's in the reserves , He's been back and forth to Iraq twice now , he would email me every now and then until we had a war of words where How I felt about the way he felt didn't sit well with him. He was basically gunho chest out kick some royal ass (maybe he just needs to be that way to survive?) and I was not impressed , basically told him to get off his high horse and come down to reality. He didn't like that. I surely was not trying to upset a friend I've known for 3 decades , I just wasn't buying into his hipe. 6 months later , I wrote him back and told him I was sorry that I didn't mean to upset him but I had meant every word I said all the same, War ......what is it good for ? Yeah Yeah Yeah !!! I know !!! For my Freedom .......it's God Damned Nasty anyway I look at it. It just leaves a rottin taste in my mouth to say thank you for being over there for me Tony (but that's what he was looking to hear from me) while he moans and groans about it all .He choose to be a Reserve and drink his 12 pack a day while he was playing life on the side and then at the ripe age of 45 find himself where he is today. If theres truly more that I need to understand here Dear God .......please let me know.
 
Well I think they will. I think overall its China that has the most to lose or gain by showing they can control the monster they helped make. And they have MORE incentive to do it than anyone else now. Problem is that its thier sort of "Iraq". They went and stuck thier dick in it and now its hung up like dogs at a buss stop.

I was told, don't know how true it is, but that for quite some time now the US strategy was, if need be, take out the NK with tactical Nukes. Suitcase bombs if you will. Can't risk air and don't want to destroy the environment and affect the South Koreans. Want to preserve the infrastructure for rebuild so we gotta be precise. So its Special forces and placed charges is the plan. No alternative. Too rugged a terrain and too close to each other. Which is why you see the DMZ standing down and less build up. If there was ANY plan for an invasionary force and strike force it would have been building up.

And I believe the Chinese have acknowledge they want to deal with it. And have every reason to do so.

Fact is that these people don't even know what they are up against. They live in the stone age. They think what they are doing is normal. And how they live is normal. They are told that the world is trying to attack them every day and they have to live like they do just to survive. They get little outside info and they live in thier own little world.

Unlike the Arab nation that watches its rulers take all the riches and deliberately missguide them with religeous fervor to get them to blame it all on Christains. Heck they think they can't get any of the pie unless we are dead. Low and behold they miss the point! They have it... they just can't see past their stone age differences to turn around and grab it from thier very own. Easier to blame us.

Someone recently asked my why I thought the Oil companies were delighted with the new turmoil because they make so much money when it does. I asked them who they thought benefited the most from this? Is it not the exporting countries? Do they not have a greater return on their oil if they just arm a group of zealots and tell them to attack Israel? They don't die. The zealots and the innocent people die. And they don't, for some reason get all the blame. Why would not Iran spend a few million to send a bunch of almost out of date rockets into there to reap BILLIONS in a few weeks? Who profits most from instability in the middle east? The rulers in the middle east. Who can afford to protect themselves and remove themselves from harm if their is a backlash from it? The rules of the middle east. Who sufferes from it. The people who they train from birth to blame it all on US! Clever cruel and dammed unfortunate. We shoulda seen it coming. But could we really have done anything to prevent it. We are going to have to see it through. But we are going to have to recognize its a long term fix. its going to take generations to overcome the indoctrination these people have revcieved Ands its going to take a change of the leadership that has squandered and stolen all thier assets before those assets are gone. I say this of the Saudi's too.
 
Ka-Boom

"I think North Korea has the right to test any weapon they wish. The United States is the only county that has ever used an Atomic weapon and the rest of the world has not forgotten that. The United States tends to stick it's nose into places it doesn't belong along with Israel and the UK. It's time for some humble pie.

Yes, I am a liberal democrat."

Yes! Yes! We have field tested a nuke and it worked! Good for us! I wish we would exercise the nuclear option more often. We have enough nukes to vaporize all population centers something like 17 times over. So let's use those things...

I'm not against war, I'm against going to war in which the outcome is anything less than unconditional surrender. We're such puds anymore.

<sad face>

No, I'm not a liberal democrat.
I'm a nuclear expansionist.
 
Perhaps we need to show Kim Jung Il how a properly designed and tested weapons delivery system works. This trident launch for example: http://www.strategypage.com/gallery/images/trident.mpg

Of course he's going to downplay what they've done after having seen some responses, including saying "they regret the decision"...

NK with nukes could destabilize the region, perhaps if they continue to pursue tests of nukes and a delivery system, SK, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, and anybody else in range is probably going to want to do the same. That's why it should be nipped in the bud if possible.
 

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